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despabibo · 3 years

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“Legend Weavers”

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A/N: This drabble is written with my own Original Characters. I hope to one day write a full story with these characters and their world. I figured a prompt challenge would be a good way to introduce them to readers.

Word Count: 2,050

Approx. Reading Time: ~8 minutes.

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Drew’s head was spinning after she left the council hall. Night had fallen in the time it had taken for her world to turn itself upside down.

Even after it had been explained to her- she still couldn’t believe it. She had died 25 years ago? And now she was back, with a new life and no memories of her old one, and no one knew how or why?

Ra couldn’t stop staring at her like she was a ghost.

Bianca would barely give her room to breathe. The freckled girl had stayed glued to Drew’s hip no matter how hard she tried to shake her.

And Eros. Eros wouldn’t even look at her. Wouldn’t speak to her. He left the room not long after her arrival at the castle headquarters. She didn’t know why but a part of her soul ached because of this. The part of her soul that remembered their names and faces even when her mind couldn’t recall ever knowing these friends.

God, how she wished she could remember. Drew tried explaining to Mother Nature’s council that she was just ordinary. She explained that she lived an ordinary life up until the tornado swept her and her van off the road. She explained the shock she felt at having the breath squeezed out of her by a stranger- Bianca- hugging her when she regained consciousness.

They were shocked to learn that she basically underwent a total system reset in the past 25 years. The day she “died” on the battlefield in their world was the day she was found as a newborn on a street corner in Pennsylvania. They were almost as shocked to learn this as Drew was to learn that these people- these gods and spirits and legends- never aged at all.

“What do you mean your 354th birthday was three months ago?!” Drew had half shouted at Bianca as the taller blonde girl was trying to make small talk.

Bianca had paused for a long moment. She continued in her borderline-annoyed French accent, “You know, if you’re going to freak out about every little thing for a whole ass second time, this is going to get really taxing.”

That was another thing. Everything was apparently happening to Drew for a “second time”. The people around her kept alluding to the “first time she had tried this” or the “first time she had done that”. She wouldn’t believe a word of what they were saying if it weren’t for the annoying nagging feeling of her own memories trying to resurface.

She walked outside to clear her mind.

The lights of a town a few miles down the hill twinkled along with the stars. Ra had told her about how the castle was cloaked from view of any passerby. The humans just saw a bunch of uninteresting ruins. Drew found herself wondering, if this were to continue to be her life as apparently it was before, would it be worth it to be unseen by the world?

She readjusted her long black ponytail as she let out an exasperated sigh. The soft breeze tried to soothe her as it danced across her dark skin.

A sniffling sound above startled her as she whipped around.

It was Eros sitting on the roof of one of the castle’s dormers. Drew squinted for a moment in the low light. His back was to her and massive feathered wings were curled up over his shoulders and head. His shoulders were slightly shaking.

She straightened her bulky cargo jacket and found an easy enough way to climb up. The old brick was strong under her hands and sneakers and she easily found handholds. In no time at all, she was sitting next to the winged man on the shingles.

“Are you crying?” Drew asked.

“Please,” his voice cracked against the word, “Don’t acknowledge it.”

“Yeesh, okay…” her own voice trailed off.

They sat like that for a while. Eros still crying and her staring off into the darkening countryside. The stars were very visible here and she could make out the faint outline of the milky way. Drew took the time to just sit and take in the view while she tried to process the day’s events.

After a few minutes, she felt eyes on her.

Eros was watching her. Her dark brown eyes met his blue ones and that little part of her soul ached again. She forced herself to look away.

“We were close,” Drew said. It wasn’t a question.

Eros nodded in her peripheral. She noticed his hand moved briefly to take hers, but stopped short.

“I’m sorry. I don’t remember,” She said, though she wasn’t sure that was 100% true. Some part of her remembered him, she was sure.

“I can tell you. About how things were before,” His hopeful voice carried an accent that Drew couldn’t quite place. Greek maybe?

Drew nodded, accepting his offer.

They sat for hours as Eros told her about her previous life. In some ways it was quite similar to her current life.

She was adopted as a child. Wanted to go to law school. Took a gap year in college to travel- that’s when the tornado swept her away both times.

Bianca was her first friend because Bianca’s job as a Mythology Keeper for legends and spirits required her to keep in close contact. Eros was the second friend Drew had met in their world. They had fought sand demons in Egypt together not two hours after Drew’s transformation. Eros’ older brother, Ra, the king of all legends, had been wary of Drew at first but they too had grown to be friends.

The legend of chaos and war, Morrigan, had waged war against Mother Nature. The threat brought together legends from around the world. Drew’s group of friends specifically were vital in the war due to their proximity to Ra. They trained and fought together.

Drew suspected that Eros was leaving certain things out. Occasionally he would stutter and pause before taking up the story again in a different place. Nevertheless, she was enraptured by the tale of her adventures. She had fought Morrigan one on one multiple times. She was the one who had discovered Morrigan’s lair. She was quite the fighter, Eros emphasized, and scared the daylights out of anyone who tried to spar with her in training.

She had powers- like the rest of the legends. Strength and mastery over the wind. They had been trying to decipher which legend she was chosen to embody. She was Native American so they had decided to research Native legends. But then she died.

The story cut off suddenly and a new wave of tears sprung up in Eros’ eyes. His hand flew to his mouth and he looked away from Drew for the first time in hours.

Instinctually, her hand reached up to stroke the bend in Eros’ wing. Subconsciously or not, he leaned into the touch.

“You used to do that to comfort me,” he said around his hand.

“You don’t have to tell me the rest,” she whispered, “I mean, I just found out I had another life- and powers! You already told me more than I was hoping to learn.”

“N-no but I have to tell,” Eros half sobbed, “You need to understand. The guilt and sorrow I’ve felt for the past 25 years. I don’t age but my heart is… s-so heavy with those years.”

Drew removed her hand, and patiently waited for him to continue.

“It was me. You died… because of me,” he looked back at her. A fear in his eyes.

“What?” Drew’s brain tried again to process.

“I had died first. In the battle in the Himalayas,” Eros seemed in a trance as he spoke. Like he could no longer stop the words from coming out. Like he had kept this inside for so long that nothing could stop it from spilling over.

“Morrigan had killed me. I remember seeing the Olympians after I died. My mother and father. Then they told me it wasn’t my time and I came crashing back.” Eros could barely form the words around the cries trying to come out of his throat, but he forced his way forward in the story.

“When I woke up… there was a scar in my side from the healed wound. Ra was sobbing and holding me. I looked over and… and…”

Drew’s heart was hammering in her chest, eyes wide. A memory sparked in her mind. Morrigan’s sword piercing Eros’ side. Eros falling and not getting up. Then some time later, Drew shaking hands with Morrigan. Then… nothing.

Eros continued, “You were limp in Bianca’s arms. She was yelling at you. Calling you stupid but she was crying. Ra told me he was sorry, he couldn’t stop you.”

Eros stopped, tears still flowing. He stared into Drew’s eyes now with an intensity that broke her heart.

“What happened?” She asked breathlessly after a moment of silence.

“You saved me, Drew. Morrigan offered you a… a deal. You gave your life for mine. I tried to crawl to your body but I was still weak and Ra wouldn’t let go of me. You disappeared before I could reach you…”

“But-” Drew stuttered, “But I’m alive. I didn’t die.”

“Didn’t you?” Eros said.

His hand, after being held back for so long, grasped Drew’s. His other hand cupped her face.

“Drew, I will forever be grateful for your sacrifice. Even if you can’t remember it.”

Drew must’ve looked like a deer in the headlights.

“Why didn’t Morrigan just kill me?” She asked, desperate, “Why did she send me back as a baby? Why can’t I remember anything?”

“I don’t know- I don’t know,” Eros said, “But even as horrible as she is, I’m grateful for her mercy.”

Drew grabbed him into as tight of a hug as she could manage. He returned it tenfold, his powerful wings coming up to wrap around them as well. Only then did she allow herself to start crying. Everything that had been revealed to her that day, and only then was she crying. She mourned the life she had forgotten and the human life she was just taken from. She mourned Eros, but hugging his chubby frame grounded her, reminding her that he was right there. She was angry at Morrigan. No. Furious. Hell, she was even angry at Mother Nature. It was her war. Why should they be the ones to fight it?

After a while they peeled themselves out of the hug. They were both cried out and exhausted as the moon now shone overhead. Eros helped Drew down from the dormer and they walked back inside. Eros walked her to the room she shared with Bianca. The feeling of deja vu as they walked the halls was almost overwhelming.

Bianca opened the door when they arrived.

“I knew you were with her, Eros, but let’s not encourage her to ignore curfew like you do,” Bianca scolded before turning to Drew, “Come in, I have some pajamas for you.”

Drew nodded to her and Bianca walked back inside.

“Ra will be expecting me back in our room,” Eros said, moving to leave.

“Can I ask you one last thing?” Drew stopped him.

“Of course,” He said.

“Who were you to me?”

Eros paused, thinking, as they looked at each other. She noticed he had a sprinkle of freckles across his nose. Not as many as Bianca who was absolutely covered head to toe. Another memory popped into her mind and she knew that he had more freckles in the spot on his back between his wings.

“You know, that’s actually hard to say. I’m not… really sure,” Eros said, turning slightly red.

“Why?”

“We never talked about it.”

And with that, Eros left down the hall with a wink. Drew took a note of the gesture’s familiarity as she went inside the room. A part of her suspected he might be lying but she couldn’t think of a reason for him to do that... right?

Tonight she would sleep. And tomorrow… Dammit, tomorrow she would figure out how to win this war and regain the memories of her past life.

No one would stand in her way.

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Writing Prompts:

@promptsforthestrugglingauthor : #1363

“Are you crying?”

“Please,” their voice cracked against the word. “Don’t acknowledge it.”

@givethispromptatry :

“Who were you to me?”

“You know, that’s actually hard to say. I’m not really sure.”

“Why?”

“We never talked about it.”

#friday night fights #fnf #writing prompt #writing prompts #my writing #short story #my ocs #oc: drew #oc: eros #oc: ra #oc: bianca #oc: morrigan #oc: mother nature #drewxeros #dreros #promptsforthestrugglingauthor

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